An industrial designer and former Global Creative Director at Nike delivers a sharp critique of the consequences of a world built by and for men, and offers an optimistic look at how we might build a better world for us all. Women and men inhabit the same world, yet it does not suit them both equally. Women are 73% more likely to be injured in a car crash than men. In the military, women suffer pelvic fractures at a much higher rate than their male counterparts. In construction, 90% of women are unable to find proper fitting safety gear. These outcomes are not a coincidence—they are a result of products where the female population is an afterthought at best. Automobile crash test dummies used for safety tests are designed based on male anatomy, as is firefighting gear and personal protective equipment. Using a “shrink it and pink it” strategy, sneakers for women are scaled down versions originally designed for a man’s foot, and colored a stereotypical feminine color – like pink. In the design of products and places, the female body is often invisible and ignored. The result is a world less hospitable and more dangerous for women. It doesn’t have to be this way. A designer for over 40 years at some of the world’s top corporations, including Reebok and Nike, Karen Korellis Reuther has witnessed the way women continue to be excluded from critical product design decisions. But Man-Made , isn’t a patriarchal lament; it is a rousing call to action drawn from research-backed insights, market analyses, and expertise from leading designers, executives, and economists. From the simply insulting and uncomfortable to the dangerous and deadly, the effects of exclusively man-made designs are wide-ranging. Rethinking and expanding product design and architecture, Reuther contends, will not only create a world that better fits women, but a world that better fits everyone. “Every day in my practice, I see the danger women face in a world built without them in mind. Man-Made is a powerful and urgent call to action—for the health and safety of half of our population, it’s time we rethink the male body ideal and build a world that includes us all.” —Dr. Elizabeth Comen, MD, medical oncologist, associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone, and bestselling author of All in Her Head “ Man-Made offers a powerful, eye-opening appraisal of a design problem—felt but not named—illuminating biases associated with design solutions derived from an outdated and singular lens. Examining the historical limitations that are unjust and dangerous, it argues for a responsible right sizing, a widened aperture, and a fundamental shift demanding better design outcomes for women. This book challenges us to ask new questions and, more important, to question old answers.” —John Hoke III, chairman of the board of MillerKnoll and former chief innovation–design officer of Nike, Inc. “Karen Korellis Reuther delivers an unflinching examination of how our built world was designed and whom it was designed for. With clarity and moral force, she exposes the invisible defaults that shape our surroundings while offering a compelling case for redesign that is both practical and overdue. Man-Made is an insightful call to action that will change how you see the world—and how you choose to shape it.” —Siri Chilazi, senior researcher at Harvard University and coauthor Make Work Fair “This book will fundamentally change how you experience the spaces and products around you. Karen Korellis Reuther brilliantly exposes hidden injustices and offers a hopeful, actionable blueprint for a more perfect and just future. Man-Made is an essential, eye-opening read for anyone fighting for a world that fits us all.” —Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander “In her straightforward style, Karen reveals a powerful truth: Designing for women isn’t niche, it’s catalytic. The time has passed for brands to undervalue or ignore the economic power of half the population. Man-Made challenges us to build for real lives and shows how product design is the first step toward a safer, healthier, more sustainable world for all.” —Randy Freer, former CEO of Hulu and president of Fox Networks Group “Man-Made shows how bias isn’t just cultural or organizational but physical, embedded in the tools and spaces that shape who moves freely, feels safe, and leads with confidence. These constraints for women start young and compound over time. At MELD, we intervene at the start of a woman’s career—giving language, evidence, and tools to redesign broken systems, as Man-Made encourages us to do.” —Katie McCormick Lelyveld, founder of MELD and former press secretary to First Lady Michelle Obama Karen Korellis Reuther has been a designer for over forty years and today is a practicing activist committed to inclusion by design and ending gender bias in the built world. She on the faculty at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where she teaches in the Master in Design Engineering program. She wa